Terminator Times #35

The US Navy has one less competitor in the Stingray unmanned tanker procurement: Northrop has dropped out. This is a bad sign because NG was seen as the leading contender. It strongly implies Northrop thinks the competition will not complete or be badly mismanaged,

It appears the MQ-25 Stingray has gone weirdly pear shaped: there are rumors the Stingray will be an unmanned F-18 modified for tanking. That might be the only way to get the stingray on the deck by 2019 like the Admirals want. It would explain Northrop's withdrawal.

DARPA has funded the development of a drone that disappears after a single use.

The US Missile Defense Agency has awarded a contract for a laser test program to General Atomics as a precursor to placing a laser on a UAV, probably some variant of GA's Avenger.